Court says store discriminated against Muslim

(RNS) Abercrombie & Fitch violated civil rights law when the clothier refused to hire a Muslim woman because she wears a headscarf, a federal district court has ruled.

"We were very excited to hear that the judge made the right decision in finding that Abercrombie & Fitch was wrong when they chose to discriminate against Samantha Elauf for choosing to wear a head scarf," said Zahra Billoo of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Elauf applied for a job at the retailer in Tulsa, Okla., in 2008, and learned she was rejected because she wears a headscarf, also known as a hijab.

The company, known for its catalogs of models in skimpy clothes, argued that the hijab violated its "look policy," and that it has a right to pursue its branding strategy.

But the Oklahoma federal judge ruled on Wednesday (July 13) the company did not prove it would hurt business to allow Elauf to wear the hijab, a symbol of faith and modesty for many Muslim women.